Friday Happy Hour at the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill

Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill, where nobody needs to pass a physical...

* Of course Gil Meche is worth $55 million over five years from the Kansas City Royals. Only 70 pitchers in baseball have won more games than he has over the past three years. Only 106 of them had a lower ERA.

* They still like to show the film clip of Lou Piniella throwing first base around against the Rangers and he said at the winter meetings: "Look, I'm not proud of those things, fellas.   I'm really not.   I hope the people in Chicago don't expect those things from me.   I take pride in the fact that I won over 1,500 games as a major league manager and that we get our teams to play and players enjoy playing for them, but those other things, hopefully, at 63, I won't have that kind of fun on the field anymore."

* Reds troubled outfielder Josh Hamilton, picked up in the Rule 5 draft, is from North Carolina. So is Reds manager Jerry Narron, whose brother Johnny coached Hamilton on a North Carolina amateur team.

* Rangers manager Ron Washington on all the money being spent this season: "I wish when I was playing that I was getting it. But that's the way the market is.   I want them to get all they can get because I was a player and I'm a player's guy.   I want them to get all they can get."

* Rangers general manager Jon Daniels doesn't like getting lumped with young GMs who only pay attention to statistics. Said Daniels, "I doubt there's another GM who listens more to scouts than I do."

* Astros manager Phil Garner on Andy Pettitte: "He wants to be in Houston, he needs to be in Houston and we want him to be in Houston and his family is dying for him to be in Houston.   His kids are pining every day at school, wondering, oh, Daddy, please don't go anywhere else, stay in Houston. I could hear it all over the city."

* The Dodgers may try to trade Brett Tomko but don't look for the Rangers to get involved. He is one of two past free agent pitchers who told the Rangers he absolutely hated the idea of pitching at Ameriquest Field in Arlington.

* The 18 free agents who signed or reached an agreement at the winter meetings will ultimately earn $443.2 million.

* Angels manager Mike Scioscia on their need for offense: "I think our team is maybe not quite as much balance on the offensive side as you would like, we have the ability to score runs, to win ballgames with our pitching staff intact.   If that would go the other way, I don't think you could ever get enough offense to get to be where you want to be. I think if you start to lose some of the key pieces of our starting rotation and the back end of our bullpen, you're not going to find enough offense to win games. We need some guys certainly to provide move offense than they did last year."

* Just for the heck of it: Tom Evans.

* The Rangers Sluggers of the West Awards Dinner will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 26 at Eddie Deen's Ranch in Dallas. The 2007 Ameriquest Texas Rangers Fan Fest will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Ameriquest Field in Arlington.

* Former Rangers pitcher John Wetteland will be signing autographs from 2-3:30 p.m. Saturday in the Foley's Courtyard at Northeast Mall.

* Tigers manager Jim Leyland on the record-breaking five errors committed by his pitchers in the World Series: "It didn't bother me.   Everybody talks about -- I disagree with all of it. The fact of the matter is our five top hitters went 9 for 100 in the World Series. Everybody is focused on the couple bad throws by the pitchers or five errors or whatever. We didn't hit. We were 9 for 100 or something. Who are you going to beat with that?"

* Royals manager Buddy Bell has quit smoking after having a cancerous growth removed from his tonsils. Said Bell, "The only thing I crave now is a pizza once in a while."

* The Cincinnati Reds were the first professional team and an original member of the National League. But they were once expelled from the league for refusing to prohibit the sale of beer at their ballpark.

* Ozzie Guillen on Barry Bonds supposedly signing with the Minnesota Twins, who he called "piranhas" last season: "You hear that you're like, I don't know what people are drinking. I don't think Barry fits good with the piranhas.   Barry is a shark, Barry is not a piranha, that is why I don't see Barry there."

* Headed to the Bay Area next week? You can hang out with Barry Zito and other sports celebrities on Monday at the Pyramid Alehouse in Walnut Creek. Zito is hosting the "Holiday Celebrity Bash" with an entry fee of $95 that benefits children of wounded soldiers. Jerry Rice, Tony LaRussa, C.C. Sabathia and Nick Swisher are among those who are expected to attend.

* Joe Torre was not at the winter meetings and hasn't been there in his 11 years as the Yankees manager.